This was supposed to be A Comprehensive List of Short Animation Films; it’s not

several times during the past 3-4 days. It is the most shared/retweeted/reblogged link I’ve seen lately, and it got me thinking that I should finally make this list I’ve promised myself for so long; a list of all the Short Animation Films I’ve ever watched.

Yeah, right.

I have watched many short animated films. Some I’ve watched at animation film festivals, others at the Athens International Film Festival. Most of them, I’ve watched on youtube. I hadn’t thought at the time that maybe one day I ‘d want to make a list of all the things I’ve ever watched, there was no letterboxd back then, and honestly, if you ‘d told me that one day I ‘d want to blog about short animation films, I would have laughed at you so hard. So, it’s true that most of the short animated films I’ve watched , I don’t even remember their titles in order to search them properly.

Let’s start with one of Neil Gaiman’s favourites, and one of the scariest, creepiest, most bizarre things I’ve ever watched. I love it!

I watched The Maker, a multi-award winning stop motion animated short film with beautifully orchestrated music, at a film festival in 2011. I immediately google searched Christopher Kezelos in order to find out more about his work. Both The Maker and Zero, his earlier stop-motion animated short, are among my personal favourites.

Logorama is a funny one. All characters throughout the film are depicted using brand logos. You ‘ve got cops portrayed as Michelin Men and a villain Ronald Mc Donald! I think I ‘ve enjoyed watching this one more than any other film on the list.

Pixar will be represented in this blogpost by Alma, a multi-awarded short film that has generated a lot of discussion and conflict as you can see in the comments section. I guess some people found it disturbing and /or thought that it teaches children not to be inquisitive. I am not sure I agree, though; I quite enjoyed watching this. And, even if the argument on how it teaches children to be scared of new and exciting places is valid, the artwork is still amazing.

Balance is the 1989 Oscar winning short . The first time I watched this, my jaw dropped on the floor. Its simplicity is just brilliant.

Walt Disney’s and Salvador Dali’s Destino was recommended to me by a friend, and I thank her for it.

Ark is one of the many short films I’ve watched on aniboom. It’ s one of these melancholic, end-of-days kind of short, with a twist, I guess. I really liked the artwork in this one. Also, I laughed out loud when I saw the comment “Spock!”

I will not bore you with links from all the shorts found in the list. Most of them are on youtube, so all those who are really into animation, can watch the entire list there. The last short from the list that I would really, really , REALLY urge you to watch is this animated version of Tim Minchin’s beat-poem “Storm”. It’s funny and entertaining as hell.

At this point I would like to stress the fact that Letterboxd’s database on short animation is … ehm… short.

And it drove me crazy. For example, I wanted to make a list of music animated videos (there are so many fantastic such films out there) and I couldn’t find a single one. Two of my favourites are “I lived on the Moon” by Kwoon and “Fantasy” by DyE.

Another music video I always found interesting is Woven Hand’s Dirty Blue

which features this strange animation, as you can see. I’ve tracked down the original short animation of 1964 here, and was blown-minded. It’s not the kind of film I would easily recommend, though.

I couldn’t even find “The Piano” , one of the most popular animated shorts on youtube

I should end this blogpost with an honourable mention to Bill Plympton, one of the most talented, fantastic people in the animation industry. I strongly recommend that you’d watch all of his films, especially “I married a strange person” and “Idiots and Angels” . Instead of providing you with youtube links on every short he ever made, I decided to give some links on one of his less known projects – also not in my letterboxd list, since I wasn’t able to find it in Letterboxd’s database. The project is called “Guard Dog Global Jam” and it is a remake of one of his best short films, the Oscar nominated Guard Dog. Bill Plympton invited animators from all over the world to help him remake his short by re-animating one shot from the short, using any style or technique as long as the dog character was recognizable. He then chose 70 of these re-animations and used them on his “Guard Dog Global Jam”. Unfortunately, I can’t find a link to the project in it’s entirety, I’ve only been able to find this half-finished version

but you can watch several interesting re-animations of the Guard Dog, with a simple search on youtube.

p.s. As you may have suspected, the purpose of this here blogpost was not just to provide you with the list, but more importantly to hear your suggestions and recommendations on short animation. You are welcome to leave your comments here or @Letterboxd, I would be happy to watch any short animated film that you will recommend!

(noun) a gaily decorated crock or papier-mâché figure filled with toys, candy, etc., and suspended from above, so that children, who are blindfolded, may break it or knock it down with sticks to release contents.